Alexandria Real Estate plans to build a 315,000-square-foot office/lab tower on what was once planned to be the site of GE's headquarters. Other development opportunities on the site could double that figure. Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi.
One of Boston’s largest life science developers is joining hands with MIT, Harvard and five of the region’s top hospitals in a consortium to build a facility that can spark the next generation of biomedical innovation and manufacturing in Greater Boston.
The team of companies and institutions is trying to address a need to translate research on new technologies from the lab bench to practical medicines, according to a statement from Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The team will also try to increase access to “next-generation cell and viral vector manufacturing” in response to strong demand.
“As a socially responsible S&P 500 company that is laser-focused on applying our truly unique and unparalleled expertise and experience to fulfill our mission to improve human health and nutrition, we are very proud to be a founding member of this world-class consortium to create an innovative and collaborative center involving advanced technologies and next-generation manufacturing,” Joel S. Marcus, Alexandria’s executive chairman and founder, said in a statement. “The highly respected member institutions and corporations have the scientific talent and the engineering capabilities to deliver truly novel therapies to patients suffering today from serious and life-threatening diseases and also to design the next-generation processes that will accelerate the translation of tomorrow’s cost-effective, lifesaving medicines from bench to bedside.”
Alexandria currently operates 6.5 million rentable square feet of office/lab space in Greater Boston, including 5 million RSF in Cambridge, alone. The company has around 1 million rentable square feet in its pipeline through 2022, including an project planned for what was once going to be the site of GE’s new headquarters building that could generate as much as 650,000 square feet of office and lab space, plus a 300,000-square-foot office and lab building at 99 A St. in South Boston. Alexandria is also one of three developers named as finalists to build Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus in Allston. According to WGBH, the new center could cost $50 million to build.
“Alexandria uniquely brings to the consortium an unmatched ability to plan the site selection and technical implementation of the new center for advanced technologies innovation and manufacturing, in close proximity to the renowned institutions, hospitals and innovative companies seeking enhanced access to manufacturing capabilities that will speed up development for a new era of life-changing medicines,” the company’s announcement said.
Alexandria will sit on the board of directors for this consortium alongside Harvard, MIT, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies and GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Additional consortium members include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, MilliporeSigma and representatives of the state of Massachusetts.
